Here Comes the Queen
by Nuit Songeur
Summary: Azula prepares herself.  But she struggles to gather her bearings when faced with the matter of her coronation and other such business, such as visiting her 'friends' one last time.


**A/N:** This was written for my 10_prompts table (and, again, I'm still not a part of this community because the mods are lazy and inactive). The prompt was 'passion' and I went for something Azula-esque. Set just before Azula's coronation.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.

**Warnings:** Season three spoilers, crazy-Azula, and probably typos.

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**Here Comes the Queen  
**By: Nuit Songeur

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Fire was light. Fire was heat. Fire was warmth. Fire was life. Fire was destruction. But most of all, fire was passion, feeding off your inner desires to fuel the crackling flames.

Azula's fire was blue, burning hotter than any orange flame. Did that mean her passion, her desires were greater? Azula had passion. She had passion for her father, for her nation, for her duty. And her duty right now, established by her father _for _her nation, was to be Fire Lord. And she would be the greatest Fire Lord of them all. Greater than Sozin and Azulon. She would uphold the reputation of her father's reign; a fierce reign of power, ruthlessness, and strength. She would prove to her father, make him proud, that she was worthy of his complete confidence.

But her father wasn't with her. He wouldn't be able to see her at her best. He was off playing Phoenix King of the World, battling the Avatar and subsequently defeating him. And then he would claim all the glory and immortality that came with his victory.

But he had left her behind.

Her chest and stomach burned, and her eyes stung as an aching feeling overcame her. But she shouldn't feel this way. It was her duty to stay behind and watch over Fire Island as Fire Lord. Someone had to do it and she was the only one that Ozai trusted enough.

"_You can't treat me like Zuko."_

The words that had been spoken in protest to her father's commands rang in her head in a reverberating echo. Initially, they had only been used for persuasion against leaving her behind but the more she thought about it, the deeper the impact of them held over her.

Her father hated Zuko, _she_ hated Zuko. _She _was her father's favorite. _She _was the prodigy, the soon-to-be Fire Lord. She was better than _Zuko_. The only one that loved Zuko was her mother.

_Her mother…_

Azula didn't feel the complete control she had over everything. She started doubting everything and everyone. Originally, she considered herself a people person. Not because she was particularly social but because she _knew_ them. She knew their fears, their hopes, their dreams, and- ultimately- their motives. But then Mai's and Ty Lee's betrayal had taken her completely by surprise. Her friends. Her _closest_ friends. Well, obviously, they weren't her friends anymore and it only proved that you can't trust anyone other than family.

_Family…_

Iroh was a traitor. Zuko was a traitor. Her own mother was a traitor to the Royal Throne.

_Her mother…_

She couldn't even trust family anymore. At least, not all of them. The only person she truly trusted was…

_Her father…_

And then Ozai had taken her by surprise, dismissing her pleas to join him in the Final Battle. But then, he gave her the throne of the Fire Nation. Such generosity shouldn't surprise her. But it did.

Ozai trusted her, loved her. That was why she was given complete control over the Fire Nation. Not because he thought of her like Zuko.

"_You miscalculated,"_ said a ghostly whisper that tickled one of her ears. Azula shot out of bed and strained her eyes against the dark room. But there was no one.

"No, _you_ did," Azula responded to the silence. She blinked, realizing she was breathing heavily, and slowly lied back down on her pillow.

Mai was wrong. Azula didn't miscalculate. _They_ were the ones that did, underestimating her sheer power and ferocity. They made the mistake, she didn't. The treacherous witches. How dare they! Azula's only mistake was ever extending the invitation to her close confidence in the first place.

Suspicion was constantly present in Azula's heart, weaving its way through her veins. Her trust in people was shaken and she began issuing banishments right and left. Disloyalty so easily crept its way through people, claiming them from the inside out. Mai and Ty Lee proved that. She couldn't be too careful, especially on the day of her coronation.

She felt trapped in her own palace, in her own body. She needed to get out… To escape…

No. She wouldn't escape her duty. She would fulfill it, for her father. All the same, she didn't stifle the urge to march imperiously towards the prison standing on the outskirts of the city. The guards led her straight to Mai and Ty Lee's cell and lingered when she approached the iron bars. Mai briefly graced her with a bored glance.

"And what do you want?" she asked, tone completely inflectionless. Ty Lee merely remained silent.

"Guards," Azula said. "Do we have any instruments of torture?" The guard hesitated and answered, slightly stammering.

"Uh, yes ma'am. We do."

"Good. Go get them, please." The guards left, leaving the three of them alone. Ty Lee's wide eyes grew even wider. Mai remained expressionless.

"Are you trying to scare us or something?" Still in that same bored tone. It irritated Azula.

"I just came here to tell you that you were right. I _had_ miscalculated. I was wrong in ever letting the two of you _traitors_ to join me. I was wrong to ever be friends with you in the first place. I knew you would eventually turn on me." Keeping it casual.

"You didn't come all this way to humble yourself."

"On the contrary, that's exactly why I'm here. I'm to be Fire Lord soon. Today in fact. And, humility is something us royals are expected to exercise."

"So, it's true," Mai said, inspecting her fingernails. "Daddy did leave you behind." Something clicked.

"No," Azula insisted, somewhat more emotionally than she normally would have. "_Father_ needs someone to be Fire Lord when he rules the world. I'm the only one that fit the bill."

"But he didn't take you with him. He doesn't think you can take the Avatar, after all those times you _failed_." Mai was egging her on.

"Only because I had you two for dead weight." The insult was not smooth or articulate as her insults usually were. Mai continued, ignoring the pathetic insult.

"As much as you hate Zuko and say how he's inept, you couldn't get him either. He slipped away from you, too." Azula's fists were clenching, her long fingernails piercing her skin. She ignored the pain and the blood that started to drip.

"Again, because of two dead weight _traitors_."

"Face it, Azula," Mai said, shrugging herself off the wall to face her. "Like I said before, you miscalculated. And you hate it. You came down here today to prove something to yourself. But you haven't proven anything except that I was right. And you _hate _it. We're in here because we're not afraid of you, Zuko's out there with the Avatar because you messed up, and Daddy's gone to win the war leaving his useless daughter behind because you failed."

"Oh, Guards," Azula said causally, calling over her shoulder. "I'm starting to grow impatient." Then Azula saw Mai's expression change, slightly. She was smirking.

"I wonder what your mother would say about you now."

Azula snapped.

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I hope you enjoyed! Please review.

_**-NuitSongeur**_


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